Geography
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Decentralization in access to and control of Bolivia's forest resources, coupled with a rising global demand for tropical hardwoods, raises important questions about whether increased trade and community forest management (CFM) initiatives can enable forms of market integration that have more favourable outcomes for rural communities. This paper assesses the prospects for such a transition through an examination of the relationships linking wood product market intermediaries (brokers and buyers) to rural suppliers and forest communities in Bolivia. The analysis centres on whether trust - conceptualized as a power-laden sociospatial process driven by multiscalar factors - can evolve between buyers and suppliers such that more progressive (sustainable and mutually beneficial) partnerships devolop. Focusing on three types of buyer-supplier relationships in Bolivia - direct ties between wood brokers/buyers and suppliers, nongovernmental organization (NGO) mediated exchange relationships and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of suppliers - our findings show how trust building initiatives that focus on one scale may fail if factors at other scales create obstacles to collaboration, Given these relational constraints, CFM strategies in Bolivia currently face limitation on their viability as economic development strategies. © 2011 The Authors. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography © 2011 Department of Geography, National University of Singapore and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
Publication Title
Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography
Publication Date
2011
Volume
32
Issue
2
First Page
203
Last Page
219
ISSN
0129-7619
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9493.2011.00429.x
Keywords
Bolivia, community forestry, rural development, trust, wood industry
Repository Citation
Murphy, James T. and Lawhon, Mary, "Market intermediaries and rural people in Bolivia's forest products sector: Are trusting partnerships possible?" (2011). Geography. 408.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/408
Copyright
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Murphy, James T., and Mary Lawhon. "Market intermediaries and rural people in Bolivia's forest products sector: Are trusting partnerships possible?." Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 32.2 (2011): 203-219., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9493.2011.00429.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.